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Teddy Boys Research Paper

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The late forties and early fifties was a time of great austerity in Britain. After the Second World War, the tailors of Savile Row began experimenting to renew the styles of the Dandies. In 1950, Britain experienced a consumer boom, and the young generation emerged as a distinctive social group, known as the Teddy Boys and Girls. The Teddy Boys have now been in existence as a coherent subculture for sixty years, and there is a growing interest in alternative lifestyles among today’s younger generation who are looking for an alternative to an endlessly repeating, worldwide monoculture. The 1950s was considered the most important decade for the Teds. They were Britain’s first teenage youth cult of the modern, mass media-dominated era. In the early 1950s, the working class life was rigidly structured around school, work and the home. Adolescence was not conceived as a traditional period, and young people were expected to dress like their parents. Teenagers left school at fifteen and immediately started working or …show more content…

Employment rates were high and the British economy was soon in full swing. For the first time, the young generation had disposable income to spend on non-essential items like music and fashion. Teenagers across Britain, emerged as a distinctive social group called the Teddy Boys. The Teddy Boy style was unique and completely original, they had their own culture by dressing differently. The wealthy working-class youth began to imitate the styles of the Edwardian Era, which occurred from 1901 to 1910. They would take the sharp Edwardian away from the upper-class elite and mix it with the relaxed attitude of the Americans. This led the Savile Row tailors to revive the flamboyant styles of the Dandies. The Teddy Boy look was expensive, mostly tailor made and paid through weekly installments. They were challenging the social order, and the upper class dandies found they could no longer wear these styles

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